SBIR-STTR Funding in Missouri Climbs in
First Three Years of MoFAST Program

Columbia, Mo., January 13, 2006 — Federal agency funding to early-stage high-tech companies in Missouri climbed to an all-time high of more than $13 million in fiscal year 2004, according to recent data from the U.S. Small Business Administration.

The increase coincides with the first three years of the Missouri Federal and State Technology Partnership Program (MoFAST) program, an initiative of the University of Missouri Extension's Missouri Small Business Technology Development Centers (MO SBTDC).

In the three years for which SBA data are available since MoFAST's 2002 founding, funding from two SBA-monitored programs – Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer Research (STTR) – jumped in Missouri from $3.3 million in (pre-MoFAST) 2001 to $13.1 million in 2004, says Max Summers, Columbia-based director of the MO SBTDCs.

The number of individual SBIR-STTR awards also increased from 20 in 2001 to 45 in 2004. Missouri's national rank during the period climbed from 39 to 27 among the 50 states, Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia.

"It is apparent from these data that our MoFAST counselors across the state have had a significantly positive impact on the growth of SBIR-STTR funding for Missouri's high technology companies in the early stages of development," says Summers. "It also is obvious from Missouri's rise in national rankings that the MoFAST program has contributed considerably to the attraction of research dollars that support expansion of high technology entrepreneurism in Missouri."

MoFAST counselors – located in St. Louis, Columbia, Kansas City and Rolla – work with enterprising Missouri engineers, scientists and other high technology-oriented individuals and groups to locate research and development capital for commercial start-up ventures, primarily through the numerous federal agencies affiliated with the SBIR-STTR programs.

"Budding high technology-related business ventures around the state are the key to Missouri's future economic growth," says Summers. "It is our aim, through programs such as SBTDC's MoFAST, to help nurture these budding entrepreneurs and point them in the right direction for the successful development of their technological and commercial goals."